Is your business ready for England’s Summer of Sport?

Euro 2012 has officially started, Wimbledon is around the corner and it’s only a few weeks before the Olympics commence.   Everyone’s talking about it, but have you taken time to think about what the impact might be on your business?

You will find that your staff request time off to watch their country at key events, and you may end up trying to juggle their attendance whilst still providing a high quality and response service to  your clients.   Below are a few suggestions that can help you with this:

1) Look at the working patterns within the team.

- Can your staff work more flexible hours during this period?  For example, they agreed to work “core hours” during the day, but choose to start or finish earlier so that they are able to watch their chosen event.

- Alternatively, if the nature of your business allows this, encourage your staff to swap shifts.

- You could ask your staff if some want to work overtime (or to accrue Time Off in Lieu) to cover the absence of their colleagues

2) Consider how you could ensure that your staff are able to watch key events whilst at work by offering special screening on premises.  Alternatively, you could allow staff to keeping track of events on the Internet, a TV or radio while they work

3) Ensure that you adhere to your legislative requirements.  If you offer special screenings at work, ensure that you have  a TV license.    Ensure that you are keeping within Health and Safety guidelines: for example, listening to the radio whilst at work could decrease an employee’s concentration and potentially lead to a workplace

4) Some businesses, particularly in London, will be impacted by the increase in traffic during this summer.   Journeys to work could take considerably longer than it normally does, and in the worse case scenario you might find that your staff are late to work.

Again, by speaking to your staff you can find ways around this.    Discuss the possibility of staff working from home or perhaps working at different sites which are closer to home or more convenient in terms of travel.

It’s important that that you are consistent across your business, regardless of the approach you decide to take .  If you put special arrangements in place, let your staff know that these are on a  temporary basis.  And ensure that you monitor and review the working arrangements.

We have a truly exciting summer ahead of us.  Talk to your staff, put plans in place and enjoy.